Predeparture Update!!

Dear Friends and Family,

One week until I leave for Tanzania! The days leading up until the trip have been filled with a wide array of emotion; excitement, anxiousness, happiness, and nervousness. Overall it’s incredible how much I have already learned, and I haven’t even left yet! Mostly, I am learning to fully rely and trust on God for the things that are out of my control.

I want to take a minute to share with you my dreams for the next 6 weeks of my life. There are many things I am dedicated to accomplishing while in Africa. Most all of them fall into three principles that I will strive for each day:

(1) To sacrifice my own desires and wants to better the lives of African children.

To quote the book The Irresistible Revolution, “True love is not measured by how much you have given, but by how much you have left”. I am determined to leave everything I have with the orphaned children of Africa. When I look back on this trip I want to be able to say that I couldn’t possibly have given any more of myself.

(2) To invest in the relationships I build with Staff and the other volunteers, and share with them the love of Jesus.

The love of God is contagious. Emerson once said “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”. This phrase has become of great inspiration to me, because I truly believe that with passion and enthusiasm others will come to know the Lord. The word enthusiasm literally means ‘the God (enthos) within (iasm)’. If they see this within me, then they will have an open ear for me to tell them about Jesus.

(3) To develop my inner peace.

Most of you know how much of an extrovert I am, and how I gain energy from simply being around others. Actually, I’m convinced that I don’t truly know the meaning of “down-time”, nor have I had much experience with it in college. I don’t want to overuse famous philosophers, but Pascal is known for saying that “All man’s miseries derive from not being able to quietly sit in a room alone.” I’ll have plenty of down-time while I am there and I can not wait to learn more about myself, and develop my ability to sit still and listen to God.

I realize that these goals are not measurable. This was intentional. I want to leave room to see what the Lord puts on my heart and makes me capable of accomplishing. As my supporters who have devoted both your prayers and financial contributions, I encourage you to hold me accountable on these three principles. You can be sure I will be keeping you updated how they are going as things progress.

As I mentioned in my opening, I am starting to learn what it means to fully rely on God. Right now I am about 80% of the way to my goal of $4,000. I am asking God to provide the additional $750 I will need to cover the expenses of my journey. If you are willing to support me further in all or in part of the remaining expenses please simply contact me. I have already felt so blessed to make it as far as I have. It’s funny how much money loses it power when we love each other like family.

Here we go! One week, and I’ll be off to an entirely foreign place, where upon arriving I won’t know a single person by name. In the next week please be praying for my safety in travel. I encourage you also to pray specifically for one of the three principles, that together we will reach success. I can’t thank you enough for your support and all the encouragement I have received, it has meant the world to me. If you have any advice, comments, prayer requests, or to tell me an update of your own life, then I would love to get an e-mail back from you.

Sincerely,

Andrew

“Run – Dance – Skip – or Jump… but don’t ever tiptoe through life”